1S4 



8AXO ORAMMAT1CUH 



SAXON DUCHIES 



rained for ornamenting rockerie*. Some 

 specie* are natives of Britain, (he best 

 known of which is S. umbrota, 



which, under the iiopnlar names 

 Ixndon Pride. None-so-prelty, 

 ami St Patrick'* Cabbage, is a 

 favourite in nearly every i-ottage 

 garden. The predominant pro- 

 lTty of the genus is astrin- 

 gcncy, hut it nas never been 

 tflwad. 



Saxo Grainiiiaticas (i.e. 

 Saxo the ' Grammarian' or 

 Scholar ' ), the most celebrated. 

 of the early iHini-h chroniclers, 

 tliniri>hed in the end of the 12th 

 ct-nturv. He was secretarr to 

 ArchbiHhop Absalom of Roes- 

 kilde, wa a Zealander by liirth. 

 and is said to have died at 

 Koeskilde in 1208. At the re- 

 quest of the archbishop he wrote 

 a chronicle of the early kings 

 of Denmark, and brought his 

 narrative down to the year 1185. The work in 

 entitled Getta Danorttm, or Hatoria Danita, _Th 

 earlier portions are uncritical, but in regard to time, 

 - his own Saxo Grammaticus U a most invalu- 



Tuf ted Saxifrage 



Mftw '<< 



(MB). 



able authority. According to his own statement, 

 be derived his knowledge of the remoter period of 

 Danish history from old songs, Runic inscription?-, 

 and the historical notices and traditions of the 

 Icelanders. The best editions are by P. E. Miiller 

 and Velachow (('open. 1839 .18) and A. Holder 

 (Straitb. 1880). There are good translations from 

 the original Latin into Danish by Vedel (new 

 ed. 1851) and Grundtvig (Svols. 1818-20). To an 

 English translation in the Folklore Society series 

 by (). Elton of the first nine books ( 1892) is prefixed 

 a mythological commentary by York Powell. 



Na\on Architecture, the style of building 



used in England 

 before the intro- 

 duction of ill" 

 Norman archi- 

 tecture at the 

 Conquest. There 

 are few speci- 

 mens remaining 

 which can be de- 

 pended upon as 

 .'niiine. The 

 Saxons built 

 chiefly in wood, 

 and all their 

 wooden edifices 

 are now lost. It 



ins probable 



that a rude and 

 >imple style, in 

 which many 

 features resem- 

 bling Norman 

 work were intro- 

 diicml, was that 

 lined by the 

 Saxon* in the 

 11 th century. 

 Hut there are 

 also more ancient 

 struct uron, still 



rly preserved, 

 which more 

 characteristic 

 features exist. 

 Amongst these 



f Eart'i Barton. 

 Northimptohihir. 



the tower* of Earl'* Barton and Rarnack, Northamp 



tonshire, a church at Bradford on- Avon (q.v.), and 

 ihe.-ryptat Itcpton are good examples. The peculiar 

 1 long and shoit ' work of the quoins, the projecting 

 fillets running up 'be ''"'< "f the walls and interlac- 

 ing like woodwork, and the baluster like shafts be- 

 tween the o|>eiiings of the upper windows resem 

 bling the turned woodwork of the period, are all 

 characteristic of the style. Ancient Roman bricks 

 seem also to have been used in some of the Saxon 

 works, as at the churches of Brix worth, North- 

 amptonshire, and that on the Castle Hill of Dover. 



Saxon Duchies, a group of sovereign states 

 in the centre of Germany, lying \V. of the kingdom 

 of Saxony, N. of Bavaria, E. of Hesse-Nassau, and 

 S. of the province of Prussian Saxony. 



.-u' ^*nl """>* '" '*** OpIUt 



Stxe-Altenburg 611 170,807 Altenburg. 



8axe-Coburg-Ooth 766 06,S Coburxanil Gotha- 



Kaie-Mriningtn 953 223,920 Meiningen. 



Saxe- Weimar-Buenach.. 1387 326,824 Weimar. 



In no one of these states do the territories form 

 a compact mass. Altenburg and Coburg-Gotha 

 each consists of two principal portions, w ith smaller 

 fragments; Weimar- Eisenach embraces three large 

 divisions ; and Meiningen, in addition to a long 

 narrow crescentic piece of territory, has some de- 

 tached parcels. Except the easternmost mrt of 

 Altenburg, they are all generally hilly, embracing 

 the Thuringian Highlands and their valleys, and 

 are watered by the tributary streams of the Elbe 

 the Saale, Unstnit, Ilni, and Elstcr and by the 

 Werra. In all the duchies the chief occupations 

 are agriculture and fruit and vegetable growing. 

 Cattle, sheep, ami horses aie End with care; 

 poultry are reared in large numbers in Colmrg and 

 Sleiningen. Various minerals are mined, as iron, 

 coal, and marble in Gotha and Meiningen, lignite. 

 turf, limestone, and sandstone in Altenlmrg. ami 

 kaolin and slates in Meiningen. There is a good 

 deal of industrial activity displayed in all the 

 duchies, especially in the manufacture of gla-s : 

 and the people of Altenburg make bricks, porcelain, 

 woollens, linen, wooden articles, beer, toys, cottons, 

 chemicals, tobacco pipes, cloth, machinciy, and 



metal instru nts, \-c. Education readies a high 



level in all the duchies, which maintain in common 

 the university of Jena, The government in each 

 state is framed on the model of a constitutional 

 monarchy. At the head of each is a duke i in \\ i i 

 mar a grand-duke), controlled and assisted by an 

 assembly chosen for three years, and embracing in 

 Altenlmrg thirty members, in Coburg-Qotha thirty, 

 in Meiningen twenty-four, in Weimar thirty one 

 members. The representatives are chosen in part 

 directly, in part indirectly. Each state has a 

 ministry (three members in Altenbnrg, two in 

 Colmrg-Gotha, five in Meiniiigen, and four in 

 Weimar): and each has one vote in the council 

 of the empire. To the imperial parliament Alien- 

 burg- sends one representative, Colmrg Gotha and 

 Meiningcii two each, ami Weimar three. Tin- 

 several ducal houses, which have a common ances- 

 tor (see SAXONY), arc united by family compact* 

 and agreements; the Grand-duke of Weimar ranks 

 as senior, and is the heir to the crown of Saxony in 

 case that royal family dies out. 



History. Saxe-AlU-nlmrg was ruled by imperial 

 bnrgraves from the 12th to the 14th century : in 

 148.1 it became subject to the ruling house of the 

 Saxons, and has continued to be governed by a 

 iiienilMT of that house ever since. From 1672 to 

 1H'2."> it was united (for the most part) with Gotha ; 

 since then it has formed an independent duchy. 

 S.-i\e Ooburg has been ruled over by the Saxon 

 house since 1353, as an independent duchy from 

 1680. In 1826 its duke became duke of' Gotha 

 too, but the two duchies were not constitutionally 



